Thill-coupling



J. c. OLIVER. THILL GQUPLING.

No. 357,225. .Patented Peb. 8, 1887..

A"UNITED STATES ljniimyr FFIC.

JAMES C. OLIVER, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

THILL-couPLlNe.

sPncrr'IcA'rroN fen-.1mg pere or Letters Patent 10.357,225'. dated February 8,1857.

Application filed Iovcmher 9, 1886. Serial No. 218,404. (No model.) Y

" zen of the United States, residing at Louisville,

in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful .Improvements in,Thill-Oouplings, and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,lsuch as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to that class of devices which are used'to attach thills and poles to carriages and wagons, and are called thillcouplings.

The object of the invention is to provide means wherebythe wear upon the coupling may be reduced, and whatever wear there is may be taken up to avoid rattling. The com mon style of thill-conpling with which I have heretofore been familiar is made on the hinge principle, one portion of the hinges, called the clip,7 having two projecting ears, between which theV other or tang portion is received, the two portions being connected by a small bolt or hinge-pin. in most' caseslarge enough to avoid all danger of being broken, yet I think it has always y been very much too small to stand wear., under the great strain to which it is subjected in service. Furthermore,` the two ears, being rigidly xed,cannot readily be closed upon the tang as the latter wears away in service, so

' that rattling is the consequence.

To obviate these objections my invention consists of `a thill-coupling in which the tang and hinge pin or bolt are compressed in a single pieceot' peculiar form, and a clip having a corresponding peculiarly-shaped hole to receive it, as hereinafter described and claimed,

'reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a central horizontal sectiompart in elevation, of `a thill-coupling according to my invention, and Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same.

3 represents a portion of a tang to be attached to a thill or a carriage-poleA A portion, 4, of the rear end of this tang projects as a stud to one side of its body at right angles 5o therewith, and is turned into the form of a While this pin or bolt is' series. of cylinders,- gradually diminishing in size and terminating in the screw 5.

6 represents the clip,which may be made of any suitable form to be attached to any style of axle either for carriage, cart, or wagon. This clip is bored through from side to side, the bore at one side being very much larger than at the other side, and shaped to receive the stud 4; of the tang and to t neatly thereon as a socket, 8, therefor-bore to cylinder and shoulder to shoulder. The stud 4 is practically the pivot or hinge-pin of the coupling, and it is retained in the socket by any usual device, such as the screw 5 and nut 7. If the stud 4 were the same size throughout its length as at the screw 5, it would .soon be broken off at the shoulder 9, while if it were the same size all the way as at the cylinder 10 the' socket would be too thin for safety, or-else it would require to be enlarged to an ungainly form; but the principal objection to a single cylinder of any size is that when it is loose enough to work freely gritworks into the joint and Wears it, so that it rattles, and this same objection is true relative to conical pivots.

In this invention `the shoulders of the stud and socket may be brought so closely together by the screw and nut as to exclude grit or to very much obstruct its entrance, and still permit the requisite movement of the stud. If the outer shoulder should become worn, the inner shoulders will still impede the wear, and all the shoulders must become loose before there can be any rattle. Then, when all the shoulders are loose, the screw nut may be turned up to bring the shoulders to bear again to cure the rattle. Y

If the pivot-pintwerea bolt passing through the tang 3, it could not answer the same purpose as a stud, unless it was so securely connected with the tang as to be practically a rigid part thereof.

If a pair of thills were provided with my couplings with both of the pivots projecting to the same side, it will be readily understood that the thills could be attached to a carriage or detached therefrom as though there were but one pin, as both pins may enter at once; and it' either nut were to come off the thills would still both be held in place by the remain- Io'o ing nut, thus avoiding that very common danger due to the thills swinging against the horses legs from theloss of a bolt. The pivot or bolt being an integral part of the tang, is in itself an element of strength.

Of course the relation of the parts may be inverted Without affecting the inventionthat is, the pivot may be a part of the elip and the socket be a part of the tang. This coupling is very strong, simple, safe, d urable, and easily managed, requiring no tools but a sin gle serew- Wrench to place or remove it.

I ani aware that thill-couplings have been provided with screw-ended taperingstuds to serve as hinge-pins. I am also aware that a thilleoupling has been provided with a eireumferentiallygrooved hinge pin and the socket therefor provided with a screw to enter the said groove. Vere the socket in that case provided with an internal shoulder, like niine, it could not be made to enter the eireumferential groove, and I do not elaini either the tapered hinge-pin or the grooved hinge-pin de scribed as my invention.

XVhat I claim as niy invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, in a thill-eoupling, of a thill-tang having a screw-stud formed as a series of shouldered cylinders diminishing from the body ofthe tang to the screwend of 3o the stud, an axle-eli p bored to receive the said stud and to iit the saine at the shoulders and along the cylinders, and a nut fitted to the screw, substantially' as shown and described.

2. The combination of a thill-tang having a 35 sideWise-prqieeting stud formed as a series ol' cylinders, eaeh terminating at one end in an enlarging shoulder and at the other end in a diminishing shoulder, the smallest cylinder provided with a serewthread, a nut therefor, 4o

and an axle-elip bored to receive the said stud and to lit the same at both the shoulders and cylinders, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof l alix my signature in 45 C. M. Raimnrn, J No. T. R'Annnrn. 

